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It’s British Food Fortnight, a national celebration of the nation’s fresh, seasonal and regional produce. Running from September 19 – October 4, the campaign aims to heighten awareness of all that’s great about British food at a time when we traditionally celebrate food production in this country – Harvest Festival.

The benefits of eating British are many: Eating seasonal British fruit and veg is better for us as it naturally contains the nutrients, minerals and trace elements that our bodies need for good health throughout the year. British food has a much lower carbon footprint than foreign imports and supports our British farmers who help to maintain the countryside for everyone’s enjoyment.

At Market Walk, fresh food traders are all doing their bit to fly the flag for superb local and regional produce. Since the horsemeat scandal several years ago, shoppers have become more interested in the provenance of their food and a growing distrust of supermarket food has led to an upturn in trade for traditional butchers. Bevan’s Butchers in Market Walk are well known in Woking for their top quality British meat and poultry. Surrey’s most superior pork joints and home-cured British Bacon are sourced from locally bred, free-range pigs in Guildford, fed on special cereal diets. Other British produce includes free-range lamb raised on the salt marshes of the Thames Estuary. Bevan’s celebrate 45 years in business this year proving the point that traditional, independent retailers have staying power!

The Breadstall is run by 25 year old entrepreneur, Adam J O’Neill. Adam is a locally trained chef who spent two years living and working in Italy where he developed a passion for Italian cooking. The Breadstall serves the finest Italian street food, alongside great British classics that been favourites on the British tea table for many years. Their award-winning sausage rolls and quiche are all on offer; all made using locally sourced ingredients sourcing only the freshest eggs from Clayton’s farm in Surrey.

Any British Food gourmet will rave about the UK’s fabulous variety of cheeses now available – we now produce over 700 varieties – more than France! Limpopo Biltong has a huge selection available sourced from Wobbly Bottom Farm in Hertfordshire. Francois’ selection covers some traditional English favourites such as Stilton, to the more unusual but tongue tantalising cheeses with added flavour, black pepper, ginger and chilli.

No celebration of British food would be complete without a mention of the cream of the crop. Britain’s seasonal climate produces one of the greatest varieties of vegetables in the world. P and P’s Fruit and Vegetables have a very wide selection of produce grown in Britain, including locally grown potatoes, cabbage sourced from Southport, sweetcorn from Essex and deliciously sweet strawberries and raspberries from Hereford. If you’re fed up with the imposed varieties of imported apples available in the supermarkets, you’ll love the sweet and juicy Great British Cox on offer at P&P’s.

As an island nation, British coastal waters have long provided us with an abundance of fresh fish. The fish counter at Market Walk’s Quality Fishmonger, is populated daily by catch bought that morning from Billingsgate Fish Market and as with all the market’s fresh food traders, Market Walk’s fishmonger will happily advise on preparation and cooking. British fish has enjoyed a surge in popularity in recent years thanks largely to the increased interest in British cookery, and stalwarts such as Sea Bass, Cod and Bream feature heavily on the most exclusive menus.

You may not think that Asian food traditionally features British ingredients but both Shin’s Bibimbap Korean food café and Bep Viet’s delicious Vietnamese street food serve dishes made with locally sourced meat and ingredients. The flavours may be from the Far East, but the rest has virtually zero food miles!

If a good old British sandwich is your chosen lunchtime fare, then Sandwiches etc have all your favourites: tuna mayo, coronation chicken, cheese, ham, plain chicken, bacon and mozzarella all sandwiched between freshly bought bread from The Bakery. Beans and chilli are also on offer as hot fillings for their jacket potatoes.

With so much choice of first-class produce grown and reared on our home soil, there’s absolutely all you need to shop local.